Pronunciation Guide for English

Pronunciation Guide for English

In the English writing system, many of the graphemes (letters and letter groups) have more
than one possible pronunciation.

Sometimes, specific sequences of letters can alert the reader to the possible pronunciation
required; for example, note the letter sequences shown as ‘hollow letters’ in this guide as in
‘watch’, ‘salt’ and ‘city’ - indicating that, in these words with these letter patterns, letter a
is usually code for the /o/ sound and letter c is always code for the /s/ sound. Slash marks
around a letter or letters - for example, /o/, /s/ or /sh/ - indicate a sound – usually at the
level of the phoneme – the smallest unit of sound identifiable in speech.

This Pronunciation Guide is not comprehensive as it does not include all the graphemes and
sounds in the English language. The guide is based on letters, groups of letters, and common
spelling patterns, which generally have more than one pronunciation dependent on the words
themselves. This is NOT the same as an Alphabetic Code Chart based on ALL the phonemes.

Some of the word examples in the Pronunciation Guide below are words used commonly but
they have very unusual spellings, for example: ‘any’, ‘said’, ‘pretty’, ‘women’ and ‘choir’.

The guide below cannot be definitive about how to pronounce each word because
pronunciations vary according to regional or national accents in the English language. The
complexity of the Pronunciation Guide demonstrates the advisability of teaching the English
alphabetic code (the grapheme-phoneme correspondences) for reading, and for spelling,
systematically and thoroughly. Some learners are able to deduce the alphabetic code for
themselves through lots of book experience and writing experience as they mature (although
they may not fully appreciate that they are ‘picking up’ what is known as the alphabetic
code – or alphabetic principle). Other learners, however, only manage to ‘pick up’ some
alphabetic code without explicit teaching – or they may fail to deduce the alphabetic
principle at all - regardless of their book experience at home or in school.

Years of research and leading-edge practice has shown that the best way to teach reading
and spelling in the English language is to teach the English alphabetic code and the core
phonics skills of decoding for reading and encoding for spelling very explicitly, systematically
and comprehensively – providing reading, spelling and writing activities which match the code
that has been taught to date. This approach serves all learners of all ages and is essential
for many learners whatever their age.

The Phonics International programme is designed and organised around the free Alphabetic
Code Charts at www.alphabeticcodecharts.com . The notion of the Alphabetic Code Chart is
based on the ‘units of sound mainly at phoneme level’ of the English language and the
graphemes which are code for the sounds. This Pronunciation Guide, in contrast, is based on
some spelling patterns shown in the left column and provides examples of different
pronunciation. See www.phonicsinternational.com to learn more about the rationale of the
Phonics International programme and the importance of the Alphabetic Code Charts.

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Pronunciation Guide for English

graphemes example words sounds

and spelling including common and rare spellings phonemes and
patterns multiple phonemes

a apple /a/ grey background =  common 
/ai/ pronunciation
ai
al table apricot

ar watch qualify salt /o/
are
aw father drama /ar/

any many /e/

water also always /or/

banana schwa /u/

village manage /i/

first aid /ai/

said again against /e/

bargain mountain schwa /u/

palace /a/+/l/

hospital capital /ul/

salt alternative /o/+/l/

chalk walk talk /or/

palm half calves /ar/

also almost altogether /or/+/l/

artist start /ar/

wardrobe quarter /or/

collar sugar schwa /er/ or /u/

hare care dare /air/

You are funny. /ar/

awkward awful /or/

aware /a/+/w/

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ay tray /ai/
e /e/
She says that I am funny. /e/
ea /ee/
egg /i/
ear between/i/ and /ee/
emu me he she we be /ee/
-eau /e/
-ed pretty /ai/
/eer/
ei acne /air/
-ei /er/
-eo eat reach each /ar/
er /oa/
-ere head breakfast /y+oo/
/d/
break great /t/
/u/+/d/
ears nearby /igh/
/ee/
bear wear /ee/
/e/
earth search /er/
schwa /er/ or /u/
heart hearth /eer/
/air/
plateau /er/

beautiful butterfly

It rained.

She skipped.

He acted.

either neither

deceive receive receipt

people

leopard

mermaid

mixer

adhere here

where there

you were

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-ew new news /y+oo/
-ey long /oo/
i crew /ee/
-ie between/i/ and /ee/
key /ai/
o /i/
monkey /igh/
oi /ee/
on bird of prey they /ee/
oo between/i/ and /ee/
insect /igh/
/e/
I am behind the tree. /ee/+/e/
/o/
piano radio /oa/
/u/
chief brief believe long /oo/
/i/
movie short /oo/
/oi/
tie He cried. /oa/+/i/
/w/+/igh/
friends /o/+/n/
/w+o/+/n/
fiesta short /oo/
long /oo/
octopus /u/

yo-yo no go so

son mother

move to do who

women

wolf wolves

ointment

coincidence

choir

on board

Once upon a time..... one

good book look

moon balloon

flood blood

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-oor door floorboards /or/
or /long oo+er/or/or/
poorly /or/
ou /er/
ough fork schwa /er/ or /u/
/o/+/r/
our world /ou/
ow long /oo/
u sailor /u/
/oa/
-ue historic building /ou/
u-e long /oo/
“ouch” shout out loud /or/
schwa /er/ or /u/
soup you /ou/+ schwa /u/
/or/
touch schwa /er/ or /u/
/oa/
dough though although /ou/
/u/
plough /y+ oo/
short /oo/
through /w/
long /oo/
thought bought ought /y+oo/
long /oo/
no thoroughfare /y+oo/

our house flour

your house four

savour the flavour

bow tomorrow

owl down town

umbrella

unicorn united

push pull

penguin

superman

barbecue

blue true clue glue

tube cute cube

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flute rule long /oo/

-ui fruit long /oo/

-ure building (bu=/b/)+/i/

be guitar (gu=/g/)+/i/
bt
c intuition /y+oo/+/i/
-cc
ch pure cure obscure /y+oor/

ci sure /or/
-ci
de treasure schwa /er/ or /u/

f beg /b/+/e/

behind /b/+/i/

debt doubt subtle /t/

subtract subterranean /b/+/t/

cat /k/

bicycle /s/ soft c: ce ci cy

succumb /k/

accent succeed /k/+/s/ soft c

chairs /ch/

chameleon school /k/

chef /sh/

city /s/+/i/ soft c

magician /sh/

pronunciation /s/+/ee/ soft c

desk /d/+/e/

demand /d/+/i/

detour /d/+/ee/

feathers /f/

of /v/

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g girl /g/

ge giraffe /j/ soft g: ge gi gy

-ge courgette /zh/

gh I get it! /g/+/e/
-gh
gn gentle touch /j/+/e/ soft g

gu cabbage /j/

le collage /zh/
-le
-mb ghost /g/

n laugh /f/
-n
-ng gnome /n/

pn signal /g/+/n/

pt guitar /g/

gust of wind /g/+/u/

leg /l/+/e/

kettle /ul/

thumb comb /m/

number 3 remember /m/+/b/

net /n/

jungle /ng/

gong /ng/

bangles /ng/+/g/

danger /n/+/j/ soft g

pneumatic drill /n/

hypnotic /p/+/n/

pterodactyl /t/

helicopter deceptive /p/+/t/

reception deception /p/+(ti=/sh/)

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qu queen squeeze /k+w/

que bouquet /k/

re question /k+w/+/e/

-re plaque queue /k/

s reggae /r/+/e/
-s
remind /r/+/i/
sc
theatre schwa /er/ or /u/
-se
macabre /r/+/u/
si
-si snake /s/
st
-st- fries /z/
sw
treasure /zh/
th
scan the horizon /s/+/k/
ti
-ti scissors /s/ soft c: ce ci cy
-ture
house /s/

cheese /z/

sit /s/+/i/

television division /zh/

still running fast /s/+/t/

castle listen /s/

sweets /s/+/w/

sword /s/

thistle thin thick path unvoiced /th/

over there the this that voiced /th/

tin /t/+/i/

station /sh/

mature immature /t/+/y+oor/

picture adventure /ch+u/

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tw twice twins /t/+/w/
ve
-ve two 2 /t/
wa
wh vest /v/+/e/
wor
x dove love have /v/

y watch was swap /w/+/o/

wag /w/+/a/

wheel when what why /w/ can be +‘breath’

who is it? whole one /h/

worm work worth /w/+/er/

worn /w/+/or/

fox /k+s/

exam /g+z/

xylophone /z/

excellent /k/

yawn yesterday /y/

sunny happy between/i/ and /ee/

fly by my why try /igh/

cymbals symbols 1 2 3 /i/

The complexities of the English Alphabetic Code include:
1) one sound (phoneme) can be represented by one, two, three or four letters:

e.g. /k/ c, /f/ ph, /igh/ igh, /ai/ eigh
2) one sound can be represented by different spellings (graphemes):

e.g. /oa/ is represented by: o, oa, ow, oe, o-e, eau, ough
3) one spelling (grapheme) can represent multiple sounds:

e.g. ‘ough’: /oa/ though, /or/ thought, /oo/ through, /ou/ plough, /u/ thorough

This Pronunciation Guide demonstrates that learning to read the English language is not straightforward.
It is easier to teach and learn reading and spelling in English, however, when beginners are not
expected to read and write independently with words that have complex and unusual code.The Synthetic
Phonics Teaching Principles are based, therefore, on introducing the alphabetic code systematically and
providing words, sentences, texts and reading books which match, more or less, the incremental
introduction of the alphabetic code in the synthetic phonics programme.

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